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Hi simon..
I am very pleased to get to know about your blog .. its very interesting and imformative . I have booked for my ielts exam on 14 december . But i am confussing about selecting a way of preparation . I am just reading and practicing your blog . Is this enough for getting a 7 band each while just practicing your blog and ebook? Its going to a 3rd time when i will take another exam. As i have practiced almost all cambriadge books.. would it be worth to practice those cambriadge tests again ???

Hi MR.Simon
i happened to hear about this awesome site from one of my friends.Anyway , after surfing your website..i could make a dramatic change in my writings,both task 1 and 2.
Sir, i have a doubt..
while writing task 2 essays...either agree disagree or dicussion, do i need to give conclusion to every paragraph.? in fact, i have been advised to do so by my friends. please help

In the IELTS speaking test, Part 1 focuses on Present Tense, Part 2 on the Past, and Part 3 on the future and modals (can, could, might, may, etc.) You are expected to predict, guess, analyse, relate, suggest and evaluate (give your opinion) in this part.

Narxoz- that's not really the case. Part 1 and 2 do not focus on specific tenses and I would be very careful about believing this. Both parts demand a range of forms and you do need to show some accuracy and flexibility. I agree that part 3 will ask you to perform the functions you mention although again it does not focus on 'the future'.

Hi Simon,
A friend of mine introduced me this very helpful blog that I found many effective advices from you. So, thank you so much. After 2 months following your strategy, I got 6.5. You are the best teacher I've ever had. Thank you!!!!

Interesting that you include "broaden my horizons". This , for us English teachers and dare I say, examiners, in China is very much a formulaic expression and much over used- almost to the point of 'memorised speech'. I actually suggest to my Chinese students taking the test in China not to over use this expression and if they do use it to go on and explain in detail how their horizons might be broadened! I am not however saying not to use this expression in other places.

Good point! I agree that "broaden my horizons" has become a student favourite! However, examiners will not judge this phrase unfavourably if it is used properly in a truly relevant context - hopefully I did this in the letter that I wrote. Of course, there's a risk that students won't use this kind of phrase in an appropriate context, but I think we can help them to use it only when it really fits.

Writing task .1.
The graph illustrates the percentage change in average house prices in several various countries from 1990 until 2002 compared with the prices in 1989.
According to the chart, during the period 1990 and 1995 the percentage change rose in USA 2% but in Germany 2.5%.However there were a significant decrease in other three countries as we see there was a drop of about 5% in New York .While Japan and UK had an equal amount of percentage.
As you will see from this part of chart the highest number of percentage was in UK during the period 1996-2002.It was approximately 12 %.As well as , an average house price reached a peak of 5% in New York , 4% in Spain and the lowest figure of percentage was in Germany while there was a notable decrease in Japan, it was almost 5%.
Overall, there was an extended difference between five various countries.
It was clear that the highest percentage vary of increase had UK.